2019 Costa Rica International Research Experience

Day 14 Costa Rica to US Back to the US I go  Today my flight left at 2:27 pm. I headed to the airport at 11:30 am along with a few others from the group. I really wanted to stay in Costa Rica longer. I feel like time flew by. Once at the airport, reality set in and I would soon be home in my own bed. While others were flying home to see family, I was returning to Idaho.... I wish I could fly to see my family but it would be too hard to get back to Idaho after. I am thankful that I at least have my husband and three cats waiting at home for me. This little book (passport) will serve me great purpose in the future. I plant to travel more and learn more about other cultures specifically other tribal cultures, sustainable practices, and diets. I am excited for the future and am thankful that I had this opportunity to travel outside of the United States. It has opened my eyes to how privileged I am to be a citizen of the US as well as how much work there is to do in other parts of...

Day 13 Costa Rica La playa de Dominical  Today was travel day we left the station around 8 am. We had the pleasure of having lunch in a town called Domincal. It was so beautiful here. The little town had a lot of shops with many gifts for sale. We also go to go to the beach. This was the first time I have been to the beach in a while. My reservation is right by the beach so this was such a relief to be able to see the ocean again. I missed it. I currently live in Idaho so I am far from home (California). I had so much fun at the beach and it reminded me of how blessed I am to have a reservation in such a beautiful location. Although, Costa Rica is much warmer! I got a tan within thirty minutes of being in the sun (or more like a sun burn). Today was a great day. While I am sad to have to go home, I am so thankful to have been able to experience so many great things in two short weeks. I hope to return to Costa Rica in the future as well as Panama. Some back road in Dominic...

Day 11 Costa Rica Hand carved frogs  Today our indigenous friends from Panama left; Lazaro, Armando and Lucia. It was sad to see them go. I learned so much from them during the short time we have been here. After breakfast, I received two gifts from Lazaro. First was the frogs above. I was surprised to be given this carving because it was one of the ones I looked at a few nights ago. The immense detail and time spent to create such an amazing piece of artwork its outstanding. I really liked this particular carving because it was the only one that was not painted which allowed for the many carve marks to be shown. In return, I gifted Lazaro a necklace made from Juniper berries. I also gave Lucia a bracelet made from porcupine quills. I hope one day I will be able to see all of those I met in Costa Rica again. They all made a big impact on the person I desire to be in the future. They showed me what true strength and resiliency is.  I now have a new found goal to be able...

Day 10 Costa Rica Handmade from palm leaf fibers  I purchased this bag from Lucia the other day and it has put in some good work. I can fit almost everything in it including my water bottle. I chose this bag because the design is similar to one in my tribe. It is the sturgeon back design. It reminded me of home and how much my culture means to me. When I seen this bag it drew me in and I knew it was the perfect one.  Lucia, Leslie and Aldwin learning how to make thread. Today we learned how the processing of the plant fibers into thread. It was a long process and took a lot of time. Lucia showed us how to do it. The first step was to combine them together and you had to use your toes! Here they were combining small portions together using their hands to roll/twist them together. Once the whole bundle was processed the first step was complete. Then we had to further roll them together and this time you used your thigh to roll it on. It was very time consuming. Luc...

Day 9 Costa Rica Sign at the Greenhouse Entrance Today we had the privilege of getting a medicinal plant tour with Armando and Celestino in the greenhouse. Juan, a Phd student from Costa Rica was a big help in translating from Spanish to English. Armando spoke to Celestino in Ngobe tribal language and then Celestino restated it to Juan in Spanish. It was amazing to see these three work together in order to be able to teach us about the medicinal plants and their uses. Armando and Celestino Armando and Celestino took us on quite the medicinal plant tour. It was amazing watching Armando as he walked through the greenhouse. I learned so much within a short amount of time. I had to record the entire session because there was no way I was going to be able to remember everything that was said. This experience was probably one of my favorites because Armando was so eager to share his knowledge. My favorite plant I learned about was for asthma. This plant was spiky on the stem a...

Day 8 Costa Rica Crepe from San Vito Today we got the chance to check out San Vito. Our first stop was the pizza at the Pizzeria Liliana. I got the Tropical Pizza size small and ate the whole thing. It was delicious! Pineapple does belong on pizza! I added jalapeños to the existing ham and pineapple. After walking around for a while and checking out some of the shops as well as grocery stores, many of us met at the crepe place. I don't remember what it was called but the ladies there were super nice and one of them understood English pretty well. I got strawberries, banana and Nutella. It was super good. I was surprised that they had crepes and they were super thin and perfectly made. I should have got another one just to try it. This place is definitely worth it if you are ever in San Vito. The crepe place was right across the street from the pizza place.  Kayonnie and I getting drenched!  Out of no where, it started pouring! A jacket is definitely necessary to...

Day 7 Costa Rica Learning ImageJ Today Corbin taught me how to use the ImageJ software. It was a little difficult at first but after few hours of doing it, I got the hang of it. We have 45 images of leaves to process with the software. Basically we are getting the total surface area of the leaf as well as the healthy surface area. By doing so we can get a percent of diseased area of each leaf. This software is pretty awesome, but there are some nuances with it also. Some of the leaves were hard to do because the lighting as well as the software sometimes would pick up the background as part of the leaf. Overall, I am enjoying learning this method of determining how much of the leaf is diseased versus just guessing. This is more accurate. Lazaro preparing the tattoo material.  After lunch we all got temporary tattoos from Lazaro the leader/chief of the Embera tribe of Panama. He used a fruit from a specific palm tree. To get the fruit you have to climb the tree. Lazaro b...

Day 6 Costa Rica Toucan Today was our final day collecting data for our project. Along the way, Corbin (my mentor) was playing Tupac and this Toucan landed right above our heads in the trees. He was checking us out and looked at us sideways a few times. This was the second time I have seen a toucan but his time was it was super close. I am happy I got a picture of one and the quality turned out really good. Next time I want something cool to show up, I will just play some Tupac. Owl Butterfly? Blue Morpho?? I have no idea what the name of this butterfly is but it was soooo big! Again, Corbin was playing Tupac then this butterfly landed on a tree right next to us. It stayed there and didn't fly away. I was able to get quite a few pictures of it. I have never seen a butterfly this big. I am not sure what the colors were on the other side possibly blue and yellow. Either way, this was an awesome shot! I would say this was a good day out on the field. We finished collectin...

Day 5 Costa Rica Bird Friend Today was a super long day, 10 miles worth of hiking. At first I went out to the field with Mandy and her crew. We hiked the Ridge Trail to get soil samples (for her project). We came to the Ridge trail and Loop Trail intersection. Then K'Lona and I continued up the trail and got another soil sample at the Ridge and Wilson Trail intersection. The trail is uphill majority of the way. After collecting our samples we walked back down to the river. I had to do my data collection along the river by myself, but my friend (pictured above) didn't let me down and led the way to our first research plot. I am glad I was not completely alone because I was slightly scared but this bird made me feel a lot better. He was also interesting to look at and I wish I knew what kind of bird he was. After gathering my data, I headed back up to the lab at the station. Jessica needed help so I volunteered to go out with her to set some animal cameras near the ging...

Day 4 Costa Rica Good Luck Ceremony  This morning we had the honor to receive a blessing and good luck ceremony by the head tribal leader of the Embera tribe of Panama near Columbia. It was a great honor to be able to receive this from someone from such high regard in his tribe and it is an honor that he is here sharing his culture with us. The picture above is of an elder of the Ngobe tribe and tribal leader/chief of the Embera tribe. Today was our first day in the field with our perspective mentors. My mentor is Corbin and he is a Phd student studying Microbiology. Today we hiked down to the Rio Java again and set up our plots for our research. I was happy that we got to have some good luck before this journey because I thought the river would have a lot of snakes. To my surprise, I did not see one snake today! I am again, very thankful to have the group of Indigenous Peoples here with us and their presence has made this experience that much more enjoyable. The elderly man ...

Day 3 Costa Rica  This is me! I figured it was time to introduce myself, since today we spent some time doing this with the Indigenous group from Panama. My name is Paula Aubrey and I come from the village of Turep on the Yurok Reservation. I was raised mainly by my grandmother and grew up on the reservation. I recently graduated from the University of Idaho with a degree in Nutrition. I plan to go to graduate school to pursue a masters in Public Health Nutrition. I have a strong interest in traditional foods and sharing that with indigenous peoples. Today was a day filled with A LOT of exercise. I started my day at 4:30 am and worked out before the sunrise. Around 7:30 we began our tour of the property and it was very informational. It was surprising to see so many different plants from around the world all in one place. I took so many pictures!  Photo of Scott, Deb, Ian, Nicole, Aldwin, and Lucas on top of the lookout tower. We hiked down to the Ri...

Day 2 Costa Rica Pit Stop Today we traveled from San Jose to the Las Cruces Biological Station. It was a long and windy drive but it was very enjoyable. We had the opportunity to test out our Spanish at many locations (if we wished). This was the first time that I actually used the small amount of Spanish that I do know. I felt accomplished even though there were times that I didn't know how to explain myself. I succeeded in at least trying to say what I did know or looked up. By the way, Google Translate is a must and it is helpful to download the language in which you are trying to learn or use.  Dinner at the Las Cruces Biological Station I recently finished up my undergrad degree in Nutrition at the University of Idaho. Dinner tonight was by far the best food I have had in a long time. Everything was very fresh and tasted way better than anything you can get in the United States. The salad items were to die for. The beets tasted sweeter than in ...

Day 1 Costa Rica Rose at Hotel Aeropuerto Today was my first full day in Costa Rica. Thus far, this trip has been amazing. I have grown to love this place and all the beauty it has to offer. I have been trying to speak more Spanish, but it is difficult for me to say the words even if I do kind of understand. This experience so far has made me want to learn more Spanish in the future so that I can better communicate with those that speak the language. I feel like this experience would more impactful if I could speak some Spanish rather than just understanding a few words. Regardless, I added the above picture to show how beautiful this place is and all the things it has to offer. This is the first time out of the United States, and it has been amazing so far.  Bobcat Not Bobcat The second picture is of a cat I seen at Hotel Aeropuerto. At first, I thought it was a bob cat or possibly a mountain lion. Then I realized it was just a regular...